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Can I restore Time Machine backup to Macintosh HD?

iMac late 2013 10.13.6


I’d like to restore from a Time Machine backup (which is on an external hard drive) and it’s asking me which disk I want it to be restored to.


The only disc available is Macintosh HD, which has 999.35 GB space, as I have just reinstalled my operating system.


There is a warning when I choose this disk however, and I wanted to know if I should use an external hard drive instead?


Will it essentially delete my operating system if I restore the backup to Macintosh HD?


iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 17, 2023 10:23 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 18, 2023 6:17 AM

You're welcome. 🙂

And, I'm sorry, but you've used up all of your questions so no, you cannot ask more. 😉


Rubydoobydoo wrote:

What’s the difference between using Migration Assistant and restoring via Macintosh HD?

I don't know what you mean by "restoring via Macintosh HD", but Migration Assistant is the prescribed way to do a software restore.


I was advised to do it via Migration Assistant but it didn’t work.

When asked ‘Select the information to Transfer’ everything except my user account just kept spinning and couldn’t calculate the size of:

Applications
Other files and folders
Computer & Network Settings

so I couldn’t go any further.

Does that mean that there’s something wrong with the things that it couldn’t calculate?

This doesn't necessarily mean there is a problem. That's not uncommon. The migration process can take hours and depends on the overall health of the old drive, the amount of data being transferred and a few other things.


I advise that you start the process and then walk away and let the Mac do its thing. Maybe start it before you go to bed and let it run overnight.


Restore your Mac from a backup - Apple Support




16 replies

Can I restore Time Machine backup to Macintosh HD?

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